stuffed roasted portobellinis with pine nuts and breadcrumbs

so here is the continuation of my previous post called, .... of things to come. for information about portobellini mushrooms (which are the size of the palm of your hand), please see the links in that blog entry.

these stuffed mushrooms make a perfect appetizer and are very simple to make. the combination of garlic, red pepper flakes and pine nuts adds a lot of flavour to mushroom caps.

don't omit using the lemon juice as it adds an incredible boost to the portobellinis. i've tried it without and it's just not the same. you can use fresh bread crumbs, too — just grind up a good bread in the food processor or blender.

roasted portobellini mushrooms with pine nuts

ingredients:

4 portobellini mushrooms (or 2 large portobellos)
1/3 c. olive oil
juice of one lemon

2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. pine nuts
1/3 - 1/2 c. breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

sometimes i add 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley & dried sweetened cranberries

method:

clean mushrooms with a paper towel and remove the stems. with one tablespoon of the oil, coat a pyrex dish. put juice of the lemon into a plastic ziploc bag and add mushroom caps and shake to coat mushrooms with lemon juice (do not skip this step). place mushrooms in the pyrex dish stem side up.

dice mushroom stems. sauté them in the rest of the olive oil with the garlic until the garlic turns golden brown. it will seem like a lot of oil but it's not — you need it to sauté the breadcrumbs. it will get absorbed right away as you add them.

stir in the pine nuts and bread crumbs. add red pepper flakes, lots of black pepper and some salt to taste. cook for 30 sec to 1 minute and remove from the heat.

spoon the sautéed mixture into the mushroom caps. bake uncovered in 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. serve hot.

enjoy!